electrocd

Hi_Res

Louis Dufort

  • Year of composition: 2005
  • Duration: 13:37
  • Instrumentation: 5.1-channel fixed medium
  • Commission: ZKM
  • ISWC: T0722921518

Stereo

ISRC CAD500811180

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Hi_Res investigates a technology fetish, the kind often featured in B-series science-fiction movies. At the basis of Hi_Res is a text — a short excerpt from the user manual for the Motor Mix MIDI controller — read by Canadian composer Darren Copeland. In a sense, this assumed awkwardness highlights the absurd importance technology has taken in art. So I admit it: there is a kitsch side to this piece, and it is peppered with irony.

[English translation: François Couture, viii-07]


Hi_Res was realized in 2005 at the studios of the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM) in Germany. A first version premiered on February 11, 2005 during the trans_canada festival at the ZKM’s ZKM_Medientheater. The final version premiered on May 14, 2005, under the provisional title Hi_Res.1, during the Elektra Festival at Usine C in Montréal. The piece was commissioned by the ZKM. My thanks to Ludger Brümmer, the team of the ZKM’s Institut für Musik & Akustik, and Darren Copeland.


Premiere

  • February 11, 2005, trans_canada: Paysages • Landschaften • Landscape, ZKM_Medientheater, Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
  • May 14, 2005, Elektra 2005: Concert, Usine C, Montréal (Québec)

Composition

Revision

Mastering